Documents of the Coronado Expedition, 1539–1542: "They Were Not Familiar with His Majesty, nor Did They Wish to Be His Subjects"

Document 7: Letters from Antonio de Mendoza and Rodrigo de Albornoz, October 1539

89 introduction A ntonio de mendoza and rodrigo de Albornoz were acquaintances in spain, where both served King carlos i during the comunero revolt of 1520–21. 1 Before being posted to nueva españa as the royal contador in 1522, Albornoz served as the king’s secretary. 2 He arrived in the new ciudad de méxico in the company of Alonso de estrada (royal treasurer and future father-in-law of francisco vázquez de coronado) in 1523. He twice held the governorship of nueva españa jointly with estrada and other officials during 1525 and 1526. 3 During his tenure of more than 20 years as contador, Albornoz returned twice to spain, in 1534 carrying gold to support the king’s campaign against tunis. 4 when he returned to nueva españa after that trip in 1538, he brought with him an escribano named García rodríguez, who worked in the royal accountancy office under Albornoz until joining the coronado expedition in 1539. 5 meanwhile, mendoza had served the king in embassies to flanders and Hungary before being appointed the first viceroy of nueva españa in 1535. 6 in october 1539, just over a month after fray marcos de niza’s return from his reconnaissance to the north, both men wrote letters to Alonso de la torre, royal treasurer in santo Domingo, a functionary with status generally similar to their own. 7 whether news of tierra nueva made up the bulk of their letters we do not know, but Albornoz at least devoted considerable space to what the friar had to say. the contador relayed the report that there were “very wealthy” and “populous ” settlements in this newly discovered land, settlements large and important enough to merit the spanish appellation ciudades. 8 Albornoz especially emphasized the production of turquoise and fine cloth in these places, as well as the presence of old world animals, indicative perhaps of the proximity of the wealthy orient. 9 mendoza, on the other hand, was much more circumspect in his letter, revealing only “news of a very excellent and great land, comprising many settlements” and announcing the impending departure of a sizable expedition to go there. 10 Also in residence in santa Domingo at the time was Gonzalo fernández de oviedo y valdés, who since 1532 had been the royal cronista, or chronicler, for the indies. 11 in pursuance of what he saw as his duties as chronicler, oviedo (as he is frequently called) was insistent that communications with the royal court and its constituent councils from officials throughout the indies be routed through him. At times he badgered and pestered functionaries for information . such was evidently what prompted viceroy mendoza’s bristling, though diplomatic, response in october 1541 to a complaining letter from oviedo. 12 As exasperating as the chronicler could be for royal administrators, modern researchers seeking to understand the events of oviedo’s times owe him a considerable debt. the massive Historia general y natural de las Indias he eventually wrote incorporates the chronicler’s own transcripDocument 7 Letters from Antonio de Mendoza and Rodrigo de Albornoz, October 1539 Biblioteca real, madrid, ii/3042 Gonzalo fernández de oviedo y valdés, Historia general y natural de las Indias, tercera parte, Libro xL, capítulo i, 1547, fols. 22r–23v 90 DocuMent 7 tions of innumerable letters, reports, and other documents that passed through his office but have since disappeared. Among the documents he thus preserved are the excerpts from Albornoz’s and mendoza’s letters, published here for the first time in english. Born in madrid in 1478, oviedo had entered the profession of notario, a paralegal functionary authorized to certify contracts, wills, and other extrajudicial acts, in 1506. practice as a notario led him to italy as secretary to the “Gran capitán” Gonzalo fernández de córdoba and to castilla del oro with pedrarias Dávila. Appointment by the king as veedor on several occasions brought him eventually to residence at santo Domingo in 1532. there he took up the post of chronicler and was drafted into the additional responsibility of alcaide of the city’s fortress. 13 By 1540 he had begun to write and assemble the Historia, which he did not complete until early 1549, after returning to spain. while preparing the lengthy manuscript in madrid and elsewhere, he interviewed persons who had been prominent in the indies, including Álvar núñez cabeza de vaca. information gleaned during those...